Rifle magazines hold a supply of ammunition and are supported on the rifle by a magazine holder which has an opening that receives the magazine. When the ammunition in the magazine has been used up, the spent magazine is removed and a new fully loaded magazine is inserted into the magazine holder. The magazine receiving holder is typically referred to as a magazine well.
Loading the magazine into the rifle's magazine well requires skill and practice. The magazine wells of most rifles are only slightly larger than the magazine itself making reloading challenging. Thus, there have been attempts to make magazine reloading easier and faster. Improvements include magazine well extensions which have a wider mouth opening and a funnel-like tapered body that acts as a guide to feed the end of the magazine into the holder well. Having a larger opening at the mouth of the magazine extension makes replacing magazines much faster which can be critical in tactical operations. Certain types of sport shooting also benefit from fast rifle reloading.
Magazine well extensions of the prior art require tools to attach the extension to the magazine holder. For example, the magazine well extension produced by the Arrendondo Accessory Company of LaVerna, Calif. is made in two halves and uses fasteners to secure the two halves together. As it is attached, the top rim of the extension clamps against the flared end of the rifle magazine well. Screws between the two halves are then tightened to secure the magazine well extension in place. However, this assembly requiring screws and tools is particularly inconvenient and counter-productive when there is a need to quickly exchange magazine well extensions to achieve different performance capabilities.
Interchangeability of automatic rifle components without the need for tools is known as applied to modular firearms in which the major rifle components slide together and lock into place. An example of this type of modular rifle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,228 issued to Hochstraight et al. entitled “Modular Firearm,” however this firearm does not employ a magazine well extension and its magazine holder is affixed to the upper receiver and interchanged only to accommodate ammunition of different caliber. Because the magazine holder is a major component of the rifle, once the magazine well is removed, the firearm is no longer operative.
There is therefore a need in the art of firearms for an interchangeable magazine well extension which does not require tools to remove and attach and can be removed without destroying the operation of the firearm.